Characteristics of emergency general surgery services in Switzerland: a nationwide survey.
Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg
; 50(1): 259-268, 2024 Feb.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37470790
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Running an emergency general surgery (EGS) service is challenging and requires significant personnel and institutional resources. The aim of this study was to achieve a nationwide overview of the individual EGS service organizations in public hospitals in Switzerland.METHODS:
All Swiss public hospitals with a surgical and emergency department were included and contacted by telephone. General surgeons were interviewed between December 2021 and January 2022 using a standardized questionnaire.RESULTS:
Seventy-two out of 79 public hospitals in Switzerland (91.1%) agreed to the survey. They employed 1,581 surgeons in 19 (26.4%) hospitals with < 100 beds, 39 (54.2%) hospitals with 100-300 beds, 7 (9.7%) with 300-600 beds, and 7 (9.7%) with > 600 beds. The median number of surgeons per hospital was 20.5 (IQR 13.0-29.0). Higher level of care (intermediate or intensive care unit) was significantly less available in small hospitals (< 100 beds). The median hour of designated emergency operating room capacity per day was 14 h (IQR 14-24) for all hospitals with < 600 beds and 24 h (IQR 14-24) for the largest hospitals (> 600 beds). With increasing hospital size, there was a significant increase in the number of surgical units where EGS and orthopedic trauma surgery were covered by two separate teams (21.1% vs. 43.6% vs. 85.7% vs. 100%, p = 0.035). The median number of surgeons on-call per hospital and per 24 h was 5.0 (IQR 3.3-6.0).CONCLUSION:
Lack of higher level of care in small hospitals, limited emergency OR capacity and short rotations of on-call teams are major drawbacks of many current EGS systems in Switzerland. Centralization of critically ill EGS patients and reorganization of surgical on-call systems to designated acute care surgery teams should be considered.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Cirurgia Geral
/
Cirurgiões
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article